Tuesday, February 7, 2012

The Oops Opportunity (or how to turn your mistakes into something unique)

The other day, while showing off one of my finished pieces to my husband, he said "I just don't know how you have the patience to do this. I would make so many mistakes!"

Mistakes???? Moi???? Ha ha ha! Of course I make mistakes - plenty of them, in fact. You name it - burn it, melt it, break it, I've done it all! But it brings to mind something one of my instructors, often said to our class, "Turn your mistakes into a creative opportunity!" OK, sometimes it's just gone....but many times it does present itself as a ceative opportunity. I've had a lot of fun figuring out what to do with that burned hole in the middle of my cuff....or the wire embellishment that wasn't meant to be melted in half.

For those of us who create - opportunities often present themselves in strange ways. But we wouldn't continue to try if we didn't really love what we do....we'd just give up everytime we made a mistake and that would be sad.

Here's an example of a mistake that gave me pause. While trying to use the torch to get an organic appearing texture, I applied too much heat in one spot and burned a hole right through it. What to do, I thought???? Well, after putting it aside for a few days, I went back to it with a new perspective...and here's what happened.

I definitely had the texture I was going for, so I added the hammered copper wires, protruding from the hole and oxidized it to bring out that molten lava look and aptly named it "Eruption". I liked the way it turned out and put it in my Etsy shop - and it sold right away. Obviously I will not be able to recreate it, but it's a good example of using an Oops opportunity!

So don't give up when you make a mistake....put it aside and go back to it later. You'll be surprised at what you might think of!